Into the Darkness
by Dezeron
Summary: We all know how it happened. Sora and Riku defeated Xemnas, stranding them in the Realm of Darkness, where a portal opens up and leads them home. But what if Sora decided that he needed to stay behind to prevent anyone else from attempting to abuse the dark power lying within this realm? And what if he encountered another keyblade wielder who was stuck there?
1. Chapter 1

It was over. They finally did it. Sora and Riku had finally defeated Organization XIII and their leader, Xemnas. It took them so long, but it all payed off in the end. The threat was over. Unfortunately, their victory hadn't come without sacrifices. During their battle with the organization's leader, it seems he had transported them to a space between worlds, a place of nothingness. After Xemnas and the nobodies that followed were defeated, the two pressed on, with Sora having to help steady Riku due to a wound that Xemnas inflicted on him. After a little time, they came across a strange light that enveloped the duo.

When the blinding glow cleared, they saw a beach, devoid of alllife, and entirely lit by moon light. It only took a second of looking around to guess where they were. It was the realm of darkness. This wasn't a world like what they had been traveling during their journeys. Those were all a small part of of the realm of light. This was another realm entirely. And from the looks of things, there was only one world in this domain.

They both sat near the water, waiting for a time, when Riku noticed a bottle at the shore. He picked it up, and pulled the note that was inside out. He read it for a second before getting Sora's attention.

"I think it's for you." Was all Riku said. And so Sora began to read.

_Thinking of you wherever you are.  
_

_"We pray for our sorrows to end,_

_And hope that our hearts will blend._

_Now I will step forward to realize this wish._

_And who knows:_

_Starting a new journey may not be so hard._

_Or maybe it has already begun._

_There are many worlds._

_But they all share the same sky-_

_One sky, one destiny._

_Kairi_

Upon finishing the letter, a column of light rose from the water, much to the shock of both Sora and Riku.

"Light." Was all Riku said.

"The door to light." Sora agreed. Though it was unspoken, they both knew where the door lead. It was their road home. The wielder of light was ecstatic. They could go home. Finally! It had been so long! He would finally be able to talk to Kairi without the worry of some evil destroying all the worlds!

At least, that's what he _should _be thinking. And yet... Some part of him was worried about the danger this realm presented. What if someone managed to successfully open a way into this world, with all this power left unchecked? He had to keep the danger here at bay so no one could ever tap into the power that lay here.

But first, hehad to make sure that Riku left. He more than anyone else was susceptible to the darkness that lay here. To mask his intentions, he jumped to his feet, offering his hand to the former wielder of darkness.

"We'll go together." Sora lied. Riku, not seeing through the ruse, smiled and took his hand, and let himself be pulled and they walked. When they were but a few feet from the portal leading home, Sora stepped back and shoved Riku forward, watching as the light enveloped him, and then he was gone.

It was just Sora, now. The door was still open, and he could go home if he wanted. He thought about Roxas, to whom he made a promise to stay with Kairi as much as they could, so that he and Namine wouldn't be apart.

_It's alright. I understand._ He heard echo across his mind. He knew in his heart that it was Roxas. The door began to flicker, shrinking a little, as though asking if he was coming.

"Sorry, Kairi, but it looks like I won't be making it home. Take care of her and the others, Riku." He said. As he finished, a keyhole appeared in front of the road home. He summoned his keyblade, and he locked it, causing his only known route to his home to disappear. He smiled, knowing that his friends were safe. It was his job to keep the heartless from leaving this world, and he would uphold it as best as he knew how. Having steeled his resolve, he turned his back to the beach, and walked further into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

After Sora left the beach, the first thing that he noticed about this world was how easy it was to see. Every direction he looked eventually led to pitch black, yet he was still able to see perfectly fine. So why then was he able to see? It went against everything he'd learned, but he figured with time he'd adjust.

The paths in the Realm of Darkness were very twisted and chaotic, with no pattern or structure. It seemed that the paths also defied physics, as the paths were all narrow and hung suspended, like someone had frozen them in midair, never allowing them to fall. Also, it might've just been his imagination, but whenever he fought he felt more fatigued than he should've been, like he'd fought two or three times more heartless than he actually had.

Conveniently, this lead to the third thing that the keyblade wielder noticed. As bad as the heartless were in the Realm of Light, they were even worse here. They were everywhere, which made sense seeing as this was their home turf. Even was was that they fought more ferociously here more than they ever did in his realm. Even Shadows weren't a threat to be taken lightly, and they were the weakest kind! If it wasn't for his spells and enormous stock of healing items, he was sure he'd be a goner by now.

Actually, that's another thing. Where did all of these chests come from? He'd been finding these chests everywhere with all kinds items such as healing items and some scriptures on how to do moves he'd never thought of. He'd have to look into that later.

After he'd walked for a while, defeating heartless along the way, he found himself in a huge, circular area with a couple of paths branching off to the left and right. He felt a few presences to his right, prompting the teenage to summon the Kingdom Key. He moved into his crouching position he typically used in battles, and got ready to fight. There were a couple Neo Shadows and an Invisible. The last time he'd seen the sword-wielding heartless was in the world where he had confronted Xehanort's heartless, Ansem. These were probably much stronger than the others as well.

He got ready to dash at the heartless when a chill went down his spine. It wasn't just these three nearby. He looked around, and was realized that he was surrounded by heartless. And none of them were weaker heartless. There were even a couple of orange Invisibles, which were probably more powerful than the ones he had seen previously. The sight caused him to falter for just a second. A second was all they needed.

A Neo Shadow jumped from the black, yellow-spotted ring and clawed at Sora's back. Caught off guard, the keyblade wielder gasped in pain before recuperating and slashing back at the Neoshadow. He slashed again at the enemy in front of him, destroying it in a puff of smoke. The only convenient part about this fight was that it was unusual for heartless to fight one person up to three or four at a time in large groups. If he had to guess, it was probably so that they wouldn't get in the way of each other while fighting.

Three more heartless advanced, prompting Sora to lunge at the one in the middle before spinning with his keyblade outstretched, knocking them on their feet. He created a small explosion on the ground, lifting the heartless and himself into the air, where he hacked and slashed at the enemies, causing them to dissipate as the Neoshadow from earlier had. As tough as the heartless in this realm were, it seems that they weren't any better at dodging.

It was during battles like these that his mind just kinda went on auto-pilot, and when the battle was over, he usually couldn't remember anything of the battle he'd just fought. One of the biggest examples he could think of was his battle with the one thousand heartless in Radiant Garden. The big difference here being that there seemed to be even more heartless than that.

The fighting continued like this for a long time, with Sora using his whole slew of moves in his wide range of attacks, and using his magic to take care of enemies who put him in awkward fighting positions and to heal when he couldn't get his potions out in time. Fatigue was beginning to set in on the young teenager, which was starting to become apparent in his movements. It was probably the accelerated weariness that this realm was exerting. He could have sworn he heard heartless being slain somewhere in the distance, but he had no time to think about it. He was running out of energy, and fast.

Calling upon his last reserves of strength, he used the series that he had developed in the underworld in Hercules' world. He wouldn't be able to perform trinity, which typically followed these slashes, as he was by himself, but the slashes by themselves were very devastating. His attacks did put a sizable dent in their numbers, but for every one he destroyed, there was another who eagerly took its place. As Sora finished his long series of lunges and strikes, he saw what little effect his attacks were having. He would have to perform trinity by himself.

The teenager held his keyblade up, pouring all of his remaining energy into a sphere of light in front of him. It was feeble in comparison to the other times he's performed it. His heart sank. It looked like it was the end for him. He had one job for himself, and he blew it. He was about to release the energy when he felt someone or something run up and begin to pour energy into the sphere of pure light. It swelled, becoming huge, and almost blinding, causing him to be unable to see who was helping him.

The heartless were closing in. With no time left, the duo overflowed trinity, forcing the mass of light to explode, wiping out all the heartless in the area. The adrenaline that had been helping Sora stay awake up to this point finally failed him, causing him to fall onto his back. His vision became incredibly blurry. He saw a figure who appeared to be garbed mostly in blue kneel beside him, and then all went black.


	3. Chapter 3 Preview

To all the readers who follow this story,

Sorry about the wait vs. how long this story is. I've been very busy with school and marching band, and so I've been trying very hard to juggle these two thing. With that said, I do have this preview of chapter 3 ready, so enjoy! Please note that some things are subject to change.

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Just how long had Aqua been here? She didn't know. The eternal starless night that this place was smothered in didn't help. As a matter of fact, it was probably the main reason that she couldn't tell how time flowed. But she didn't really care. She just wanted to know why she was here. She knew, once. But now, she couldn't even remember her life before being trapped in this abyss. She remembered fighting a man with silver hair and saving him from falling into the void of blackness.

Before that? She remembered two people. One was a bit smaller than her, had Golden, messy hair, and always had a goofy looking grin plastered on his face. His name was Ven. The other was a man who was around her size, and had brown hair, and had a more mature look. His name was Terra. All she wanted to do was to find these two. Find them and ask who she was. How she knew them. Why she felt such kinship with pushed the thoughts aside. Right now, she had to get this boy to safety. And fast. It wouldn't be too long before the shadows came back, and then she'd have to work double time to protect this boy. She picked him up, and began carrying him piggy back.

The amnesiac woman walked for a short while before coming to a massive, hilly territory. It was one of the more... normal-esque areas she had seen in a while. She looked around, seeing that she was now in a valley, surrounded by the dark grayish mountains that made all of the walls and rocks in this world. Bright blue streams of light streaked across the mountainsides, illuminating the area so she could see into farther than normal. It was thanks to this that she saw a small cave in one of the bigger hills in the distance.

She bolted for it.

A number of shadows began forming on either side of her, but she kept running.

She was very skilled with magic, and if she made it to the cave, she could put up a barrier that would keep all the shadows out. She ran as fast as she could, slashing any of the insect-like shadows that got in her way. She would keep this boy safe. Just as she managed to get through, she threw a magic barrier up to prevent the creatures from getting in, and collapsed on the ground.

As the unconscious boy rolled off of her and onto the ground, she felt her fatigue setting in on her. It had been some time since she had rested, and she was feeling the effects of it quite terribly. She sat down next to the boy, and allowed herself to sink into the land of dreams.

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Be sure to leave some reviews. I'm always open to ideas! ;)


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